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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Some of you might have noticed that I haven't posted a WoW-related post in a very long time. At the risk of disappointing my remaining readers (however few of them are still left), I will come clean: I have quit WoW for several months. But I imagine most of you have already figured this out.

So what's the point of having a World of Warcraft blog and not playing WoW? Well, over time this blog has slowly slipped into discussing othergames and activities. I would have gone mad if I'd talked exclusively about WoW. It so happens that there came a time when I simply felt burnt out. I thought Cataclysm would rejuvenate WoW, and it did... for a month or two. After that, boredom instilled. And then I realized that although Cataclysm had changed Azeroth, the core game had remained the same: same grinding, same questing, same dungeons, same gear race, same same.

I quit WoW after playing it for many years, after leveling half a dozen characters to level 80 and beyond, after trying all the classes, after amassing over 500,000 gold. After all that, I left everything behind and never looked back.

How do I feel after quitting cold turkey? Thanks for asking. I feel just fine. I don't miss WoW at all and I haven't gone through any withdrawal symptoms. In fact, when I imagine going back to WoW, it literally makes me nauseous. Yet, I won't deny completely that one day I might go back to it. I'll have to write a separate post on that though.

Ever since I have once again become enamored with the desire to play Diablo 3, I can't even conceive playing another game, much less WoW, when D3 is released.

As a result, this blog is dead, as far as WoW is concerned. After more than 2 years running it (and over 400 posts), I am faced with the simple fact of having to stop posting about WoW. Wowalone won't disappear off the face of the Internet. It will continue to exist because (strangely enough) a lot of people still visit it, yet it will remain frozen in time.

I have recently changed the blog's tagline. From "The Art of Solo-ing WoW", it became "The Art of Solo-ing WoW, life and other games". I think it's a funny play on words and it describes accurately what this blog has become.

Since I'll be probably playing Diablo 3 for the next 10 years (until Diablo 4 comes out heh heh) and since it's guaranteed that I'll get the urge to blog about it, I've been considering the following dilemma for the past couple of weeks: should I continue on this blog or should I start a new blog?

Continuing here has the advantage of a large readership. Many WoW players will also play Diablo 3. Some of my WoW readers will transfer seamlessly to the new Diablo format. Still, I will alienate a lot of WoW readers.

Starting a new blog has the advantage of focusing everything on Diablo and making a clear cut from WoW. There won't be any confusion as to what the new blog is about. I can have a new design (the current one has grown old) and I can attract new readership.

Overall I think the second option (of starting a new blog) is the most appealing. I'll need to think if I want to keep the Darth Solo persona or not.

15 comments:

Starting fresh provides the opportunity for a new perspective, a new look and a clean break. If you add a widget to the top corner with the link to your new digs your interested readers can follow you over.

I would just continue on with this blog, and simply change the name to a clever new title that still alludes to the "alone" aspect but isn't dedicated to a particular game. Then you can just write about what you feel like each day. D3...maybe another wow post here and there...possibilities are endless.

I would personally start a new blog. Just put a (very) visible link in your last post so that people can smoothly migrate to the new one. Surfers are smart, you wont lose people at all. I also think that it's always good to keep a "memory" of your work.

On a side note, there's a small glitch in the new title: you're not soloing real life, from what I recall ;)

Concerning the "keep the Darth Solo persona or not" I am on the same boat. I already registered few domains to use them for a possible new identity, I'll see how it goes.

My domains are non-diablo related (so far), mostly because I want something to remain anonymous but not related to any specific game.

Decent diablo-related domains were already taken back in time, so unless you choose something a bit silly ... you will hardly get a good (and short) name.

I used my real info just for Steam and Battle.net accounts. I'll be using the new one on blogs, Facebook, G+, forums and so on.

If you have some cool names and need domain registration, hosting, email accounts and whatever... I have all of them at almost zero cost (it's my job) and hosted on a speedy UK provder. Just poke me and we can have some fun ;)

P.s. me@loquenahak.net was a name I used months ago to contact you, I guess.

I've enjoyed all your opinions & commentary and help with all things WoW, I look forward to continue reading the same for D3 :)

I actually just began playing WoW again after an 8 month break, but I play "very" casually and just hit lvl 75 with my Pally Main last night. So for me there is still lots to do and see in the game, not to mention the raising of my other various alts in their teens to mid 20s :)

But I tend to bounce between different games as my mood shifts. (LOTRO, AoC) and more SP games than I could chuck a rock at lol

Gaming for me is a hobby, one that I enjoy...so I follow the fun where it takes me and take a break when it leaves.

Warm regards & best of luck (and good Hunting)

I'll be anxiously awaiting your thoughts and insights on D3 and any other topic you deem worthy to comment on ;)

There was once a rather famous WoW blogger named BigRedKitty who ran a site dedicated to just WoW entries.

After he ran into marital troubles (poor guy) he more or less stopped playing WoW and stopped the site too. He instead started a personal blog where he likes to post some of the most awesome cooking recipes I've ever seen.

But today, he's playing WoW again, and posting about it again, but now just does it on his personal blog. Some days you might get his opinions about Firelands, some days you might learn how to cook an awesome steak. And it makes for an awesome site.

So yeah man, make a new blog, and post whatever the heck you want on it. We'll certainly follow and there will be new readers to come as well :)

@Darth Yes I will be picking D3 up on day one and dive right in...but I'll also keep the WoW account going and see how my time adjusts. I'm not one to play one game to the exclusion of everything else anyway ;)

I agree with @Lugnut – go for a personal blog. Taking blog breaks is a great way to relieve a fading interest. But when you have a personal blog, you can write about anything that interests you and not focus about a certain topic. But this blog is a great WoW resource. You can also keep this. Goodluck on your new blog.

@Stu it depends on the game but if it is really immersive, I will play that game and exclude any other. Since there's nothing else to come even remotely close to D3's awesomeness, I can guarantee that I won't be playing anything else for a long time.

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Former WoW player, current Diablo 3 fanatic, I love the finer things in life such as PC games, beer and computers. While playing a good game is a spiritual experience, blogging about it is almost equally rewarding.